Objective To explore the preferences of people with memory complaints (PwMC) and their significant others regarding starting a diagnostic trajectory for dementia. Methods A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Embase. Selection of abstracts and papers was performed independently by two researchers. Methodological quality was assessed with the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool. Result sections of the selected papers were thematically synthesized. Results From 2497 citations, seven qualitative studies and two mixed methods studies published between 2010 and 2020 were included. Overall quality of the studies was high to moderate. A thematic synthesis showed that preferences for starting a diagnostic trajectory arose from the feeling of needing to do something about the symptoms, beliefs on the necessity and expected outcomes of starting a diagnostic trajectory. These views were influenced by normalization or validation of symptoms, the support or wishes of the social network, interactions with health care professionals, the health status of the PwMC, and societal factors such as stigma and socioeconomic status. Conclusion A variety of considerations with regard to decision-making on starting a diagnostic trajectory for dementia were identified. This emphasizes the need to explore individual preferences to facilitate a timely dementia diagnosis.

Objectives:The study aims to describe people with dementia and informal caregivers' respective experiences of support after diagnosis and compares these experiences. Additionally, we determine how people with dementia and informal caregivers who are satisfied with support differ from those dissatisfied. Methods:A cross-sectional survey study in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Poland, and United Kingdom was carried out to examine people with dementia and informal caregivers experience with support (satisfaction with information, access to care, health literacy, and confidence in ability to live well with dementia). The separate surveys contained closed questions. Analysis consisted of descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Background: Recent literature calls for a focus on providing quality post diagnostic dementia care (Wong & Knapp, 2020). There is dissatisfaction among people with dementia (PwD) and care partners (CP) with post diagnostic dementia support (Hagan, 2020). To improve experiences of post diagnostic support for PwD and CP, it is vital to understand what factors influence their experience of post diagnostic support. Differences between PwD and CP could be used to tailor support to their respective needs and wishes. The aim of the present study is twofold. First, to determine which factors predict the satisfaction with post-diagnostic support for PwD and CP. Second, to compare factors of PwD and CP that shape experiences of post diagnostic support.

BACKGROUND The need for, and adoption of, eHealth programs is growing worldwide. However, access can be limited among patients from low socioeconomic backgrounds, often resulting in a so-called digital divide due to the mismatch between eHealth and target populations that can gain benefits of critical importance to healthcare, this digital divide can result in unsuccessful eHealth implementations. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the opinions of elderly patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) about an existing pharmacy-based personalized patient web portal (PWP) that provides a medication overview and information about the associated diagnoses. METHODS This was a cross-sectional qualitative study of a patient panel of the Groningen Research Institute for Asthma and COPD (GRIAC) in primary care. Participants were required to be older than 55 years, to be Dutch-speaking, to have no prior experience with the study website, and to be diagnosed with a chronic respiratory illness. Two focus groups were created and completed a 45-minute session for testing the website and a 120-minute session for semi-structured interviews. The focus group sessions were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed by content analysis. RESULTS We enrolled eleven patients (nine women) with a mean age of 66±9 years; of these, five had asthma, three had COPD, two had asthma-COPD overlap syndrome, and one had bronchiectasis. Patients were generally positive about the website, especially the areas providing disease-related information and the medication overview. They also appreciated that the website would enable them to share this information with other healthcare providers. However, some difficulties were reported with navigation, such as opening a new tab, and others reported that the layout of the website was difficult either because of visual impairments or problems with navigation. It was also felt that monitoring would only be relevant if also checked by health care professionals as part of a treatment plan. Patients mentioned few privacy or safety concerns. CONCLUSIONS It is feasible to develop websites for elderly patients; however, developers must take the specific needs and limitations of elderly cohorts into account (e.g., poor vision or poor hand-eye coordination). The provision of information appears to be the most important aspect of the website, and as such, we should endeavor to ensure that layouts and navigation remain basic and accessible. The usability of the website can be improved by including older people during development and by implementing design features designed to improve accessibility in this group. CLINICALTRIAL 2017.043 (University Medical Center Groningen).

Background The need for and adoption of eHealth programs are growing worldwide. However, access can be limited among patients with low socioeconomic backgrounds, often resulting in a so-called “digital divide” due to a mismatch between eHealth and target populations that can gain benefit. This digital divide can result in unsuccessful eHealth implementations, which is of critical importance to health care. Objective This study evaluated the opinions of elderly patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) about an existing pharmacy-based personalized patient web portal that provides medication overview and information on associated diagnoses. The aim was to obtain insights on the common barriers of elderly people when using health-related websites, which can help to improve accessibility. Methods This was a cross-sectional qualitative study of a patient panel of the Groningen Research Institute for Asthma and COPD in primary care. Participants were required to be older than 55 years, be Dutch speaking, have no prior experience with the study website, and be diagnosed with a chronic respiratory illness. Two focus groups were created, and they completed a 45-minute session for testing the website and a 120-minute session for semistructured interviews. The focus group sessions were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed by content analysis. Results We enrolled 11 patients (9 women) with a mean age of 66 (SD 9) years. Of these, 5 had asthma, 3 had COPD, 2 had asthma-COPD overlap syndrome, and 1 had bronchiectasis. Participants were generally positive about the website, especially the areas providing disease-related information and the medication overview. They appreciated that the website would enable them to share this information with other health care providers. However, some difficulties were reported with navigation, such as opening a new tab, and others reported that the layout of the website was difficult either because of visual impairments or problems with navigation. It was also felt that monitoring would only be relevant if it is also checked by health care professionals as part of a treatment plan. Participants mentioned few privacy or safety concerns. Conclusions It is feasible to develop websites for elderly patients; however, developers must take the specific needs and limitations of elderly people into account (eg, navigation problems, poor vision, or poor hand-eye coordination). The provision of information appears to be the most important aspect of the website, and as such, we should endeavor to ensure that the layout and navigation remain basic and accessible. Patients are only motivated to use self-management applications if they are an integrated part of their treatment. The usability of the website can be improved by including older people during development and by implementing design features that can improve accessibility in this group.